


Never Noticed Before

by SpiderKillerTrino



Series: Legend of Zelda Kiss Scenes [14]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Kiss scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 14:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30023244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderKillerTrino/pseuds/SpiderKillerTrino
Summary: After seven years, Link returns to Kakariko on his quest and meets up with Anju the the cucco farmer. While they're catching up, he admits something that confuses him. It's up to Anju to explain to the Hero why he's feeling the way he is.
Relationships: Anju/Link (Legend of Zelda)
Series: Legend of Zelda Kiss Scenes [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2207004
Kudos: 1





	Never Noticed Before

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to fanfiction.net on Oct. 17, 2020.

Anju sighed in frustration as she stood in her empty cucco pen. How her cuccos managed to get through the fence so often, she would ever understand.

This had been a problem for seven years now, pretty much since the beginning of her cucco-raising career when she was seventeen. The birds would  _ somehow _ get through the fences and escape their pen, always when she wasn’t around to watch, and would run amok in the village. As she turned to face the empty coops, she sighed, remembering how she’d almost lost it the first time this happened. Luckily, a nine-year-old kid visiting the village had offered to gather them back that time. And every time afterwards, her neighbors (Three bless them) would rally together to assist her. She was grateful, to be sure, but the fact that the cuccos kept escaping still annoyed her.

Sometimes, she thought, they were more trouble than they were worth.

“Ms. Anju?” came an unfamiliar voice from behind. Anju turned around to look beyond the fence and did a double take.

A blond teenager dressed in green was standing on the other side of her fence, holding one of her cuccos. Anju could see the blue hilt of a sword peeking out from over his shoulder. A pair of large blue eyes stared back at her as he said, “I found him near the well. Did they all escape again?”

Anju nodded as she accepted the bird from the boy. “You’re that kid from seven years ago,” she observed, not asking, for she was sure he was.

The lad was taken aback a bit by this. “You remember me?” he asked, incredulous. “It’s been seven years; how do you still remember me?”

Anju smirked. “Kinda hard to forget a nine-year-old boy running around with a sword and shield on his back,” she replied. 

The green-clad teen flushed a little and looked away in response. “Would you like me to fetch the rest of them for you?” he asked, still not looking back at her. Anju wondered about this for a second or two, before it hit her. The boy was growing up, and had clearly reached the age where he’d be taking notice of his female peers. And, while Anju technically wasn’t a peer of his, she could forgive him for thinking otherwise; she was remarkably young-looking for her age, having not really aged much since seventeen.

She smirked again. Teasing this boy was too good an opportunity  _ not  _ to pass up. “Well, well,” she answered, “looks like you’re still as much of a sweetheart as you’ve always been.” Just as she predicted, the lad blushed further, almost up to his ears; he certainly made an adorable sight. With practiced ease, she pulled herself over the top of the fence, coming to stand next to the red-faced teen. “It’s probably best if we do it together. We’ll go twice as fast, won’t we?”

The boy nodded, all too eager to get his mind off her teasing.

In the ten minutes it took them to recapture all the cuccos, Anju learned a fair amount about the boy. Link was his name, and he was travelling around Hyrule, working to undermine the new king Ganondorf. He had originally been planning to head up to Death Mountain today, but it was nearing dinnertime at the moment, so he was now looking for a guest house in town to stay the night. It was during his search for an inn that he’d come across the first of her cuccos, which had led to the time they were spending together now.

After all the cuccos had been returned to their enclosure, Link bade her good evening and walked off to continue his search for a place to stay.

…

Anju was surprised to hear a knock at her door a mere two hours later. She silently cursed the fact that she’d just finished eating her dinner, and hadn’t made enough for a guest, but nonetheless opened the door.

There, under the rapidly-darkening sky, was Link, looking apologetic. “I guess the inn was full up,” he explained. “I really didn’t want to intrude, but you’re the only other person I could think of to stay with.”

Anju supposed a normal person probably would feel intruded upon. But she lived alone, and the nights tended to get boring once dinner was finished, so it would be nice to have company for once. So without another word, she beckoned him inside. “Have you eaten?” she asked as he stepped over the threshold into her living room.

Link nodded. “The inn may not have had a room open, but I still managed to get a meal there.”

“Well then, make yourself comfortable,” she invited. Nodding in thanks, he removed his boots and sat in one of the three chairs in the room. Anju pulled another up beside him and sat down, noticing that a pensive look had come over him. “Something’s on your mind, yes?” she prompted.

Link looked back at her and nodded. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about,” he explained, “something I don’t quite understand. I was hoping you might know something about it.”

Anju tilted her head, her curiosity piqued. “Well, ask away,” she replied.

Link took a deep breath, then another as a blush crept into his cheeks. “So,” he said at length, “I realized when we were catching up earlier that you’re really pretty, and I don’t know why I never noticed that before.”

That made Anju go a little pink about the cheeks herself. She would have thought that statement very forward if he hadn’t spoken in as puzzled a tone as he had. She was surprised, though, that he seemed to have no idea what lay behind his revelation.  _ By the Three _ , she thought,  _ did his parents tell him nothing? _ If they hadn’t, then it was beyond time someone did. 

She just wished that someone didn’t have to be her.

After a deep breath of your own, she explained, “Well, Link, you’re growing up, and at your age, it’s pretty normal for someone like you to be noticing stuff like this. You’re not going crazy, don’t worry. But I can’t help but wonder, why didn’t your parents ever tell you this stuff?”

“I have no parents,” Link replied. “I never knew them. And, well, this is gonna sound crazy, but I kinda just woke up like this not too long ago.”

Anju grimaced. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she consoled, “but what do you mean you just woke up like this?”

Link glanced to the sword that leaned against his chair. “When I first took hold of that sword,” he said, “it put me to sleep. For seven whole years, apparently. It’s some kind of magic, and pretty powerful at that. So when I woke up, I was...what? Sixteen or something?”

Anju’s eyes widened at his story. Then something hit her. “Wait, so back when you were nine and we met the first time around, were you still on this quest of yours?”

Link nodded, and Anju grimaced again, reaching over and putting a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry,” she said. “No one should have to bear that kind of weight, especially as young as you were.”

Link offered a small smile in return, and the room got quiet for several seconds. Then Link broke the silence with a question that, once again, caught Anju off guard: “So, what do you do when you think someone’s pretty?”

Anju blushed again, pausing as she searched for a response. “Well,” she finally answered, “it depends on if you like that person or not. If you do, and they like you back, you’d date for a while, then, if you’re absolutely sure you love each other, you could get married eventually.”

Link’s eyes lit up in recognition. This was surprisingly familiar ground for him - he may have grown up isolated from civilization with the Kokiri, but they still knew about everything Anju was talking about now. “Like a girlfriend?” he asked for clarification.

“At first,” Anju replied, before watching Link turn pink again and look down at his feet. Anju sighed. “You were talking about me, weren’t you?” she inquired. “I should’ve guessed that after you said you thought I’m pretty.”

Link nodded, screwing his eyes shut. Anju had to admit, he was absolutely adorable like this, and generally pleasant to be around. But she’d been living on her own for years now. Did she really feel the need to start dating?

_ Not really _ , she thought.

_ But what the heck? You only live once, right? _

She reached back over and wrapped her hands around one of Link’s. “I’d be willing to try dating if you’d like,” she said encouragingly.

Link had just been coming off his last blush when that statement made it reappear. He took another few seconds to reply: “We probably couldn’t do anything. I have to cross Hyrule a few times and clear out a bunch of old temples, and that’s before we even get to Ganondorf himself.”

Anju smiled. “That’s okay,” she encouraged. “How about you stop by for a day or two after you’re finished with each one, and we can see each other. Then, after you’re done, you could settle down here, and then we could see each other as much as we want.”

Link looked up at that. He thought for a moment or two, then said, “I could do that. Yeah, I think I like the sound of that.” He gave the redhead a bright smile as he said that, and she returned it.

She stood up then, gently pulling him to his feet alongside her, now holding both of his hands. She released one in order to tilt his chin up a little - he was maybe an inch or two shorter than her, after all - before bringing her lips ever so gently to his. She held that kiss for a few seconds before pulling away and seeing the stunned expression on his face. “You’ve never been kissed like that before, have you?” she guessed, and Link shook his head. “Here, pucker up then,” she instructed, leaning in again as he did so.

Sharing his first kiss with Anju like this filled Link with extraordinary sensations he’d not felt before. His knees were beginning to get weak when she finally pulled back again. Their foreheads were touching, and they spent the next several seconds staring each other in the eyes.

Anju smirked. “It’s just as well that you asked me out,” she said, only half-teasing. “I’ve only got the one bed.”


End file.
